It is now finally dawning on many that we cannot sustain the same level of intensive agriculture that we have seen over the past 50 years. Cereal yields have continued to grow as great progress has been made with genetics and soil nutrition but too little attention has been given to the vital medium which sustains this growth – the soil. The Environment Secretary Michael Gove has quite correctly identified this ticking time bomb when he says
“Intensive farming, chemical sprays, and use of heavy machinery is leading to ‘the fundamental eradication of soil fertility’. We have encouraged a type of farming which has damaged the earth. We are encouraging the planting of 11 million trees as part of a program of making sure our land and environment will be refreshed, replenished and renewed”
With the added uncertainly from Brexit, we as a country are under even more pressure to become more self-sufficient so the move towards less intensive farming seems unlikely. The alternatives will be to use our valuable resources with more respect and in particular to avoid ‘mining’ our agricultural soils of valuable nutrients. It is really vital that we replace all the nutrients removed by high yielding crops which go into making a healthy biosphere beneath the ground – not just the major nutrients of N,P and K. Home produced Fibrophos provides just such a balance of these vital trace elements. It makes sense as it is naturally produced here in the UK from mainly cereal fed poultry litter so many of the nutrients not taken up by the birds are naturally returned to the land – it’s a perfect cycle.
Agronomically supported by many years of trials and anecdotally supported by hundreds of farmers, Fibrophos has been a great success story with over 1.3 million tonnes applied across UK arable and grassland on varying soil types over the past 25 years. It has helped maintain not just the levels of Phosphate and Potash in our soils but naturally supplies , Sulphur, Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium along with good levels of Iron, Manganese, Copper, Boron, Molybdenum, Cobalt and Selenium. The continued use of mainstream bagged fertilisers which are mined and shipped from scarce resources abroad typically contain just the basic major nutrients and is a major reason why Mr Gove voices concerns about these activities that “undercut the future fertility of that soil. You can increase yields year on year but ultimately you really are cutting the ground away from beneath your own feet. Farmers know that.”
Our regulations and restrictions are likely to change so now is the time to get our own houses in order starting with our most valuable asset – our soils. We neglect our soils at our peril “Countries can withstand coups d’etat, wars and conflict, even leaving the EU, but no country can withstand the loss of its soil and fertility”
